Hello, I've read that Microsoft was involved into a new spying scandal and the press says that the company has helped NSA to spy on users of their popular email and messenger services. Do you know something about that and how can I protect my privacy, if I'm using Skype?

Well, we at Jammer-Store have already mentioned that Skype is no longer the safest messenger. And now we will tell you why. First of all, until Skype was bought by Microsoft Company, it used end encryption and used super-nodes to establish connections between talkers. That all has changed with Microsoft. First of all the end encryption was cancelled and now there are no super-nodes. Connections are established either directly (user-user), or over Microsoft servers.

Also, Microsoft has a full access to your chat history and it uses it. We've already written about Skype intercepting HTTPS links in chat logs at our security blogs. As you know, Microsoft is American company and it is obliged to provide information about its users to FBI and NSA, if they have a special warrant. But recently, Edvard Snowden told that Microsoft with all their messenger services was a part of a PRISM project. So, government was probably able to read your private correspondence and listen to your Skype calls.

It is obvious that NSA was spying on Microsoft users. And there is no simple solution to that problem, because the only way to stop that spying – is to stop using their services, which is not always possible. All we can do for now is to avoid using Skype for sensitive conversations and use mobile Internet jamming device, to block at least your mobile Skype app, when you don't use it.